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THE SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL QUARTERLYVOL. LIX APRIL, 1956 No. 4reKaws aid ilibustersin the 1850'sEARL W. FORNELLURING the 1850's filibustering campaigns into Cuba andNicaragua received substantial support from within thestate of Texas. The support originating in the LoneStar State was not a calculated effort in expansion designed toincrease Southern representation in the national congress; rather,filibustering expeditions were mobilized in Texas to achieve amore immediate objective. Practical men wished to establishindependent slave-holding states, first in Cuba and more definitelylater in Central America, which could be used as local tradingstations for a traffic in African slaves. The potential expansionof cotton planting in Texas during the 1850's presented an almostunlimited opportunity to acquire wealth. The only element lack-ing was an ample supply of cheap slave labor. On the domesticTexas market a prime field Negro cost from $1200oo to $1500. Amore reasonable source of supply had to be found if Texas cottonland was to be exploited. In the last half of the decade of the185o's a large portion of the Texans living along the Gulf Coasthad come to the reluctant conclusion that the reopening of theAfrican slave trade was necessary to develop the cotton wealthof the state. The leading newspapers vigorously urged a pro-gram which would lead to a reopening of this trade. Although, insuch circumstances, adventurous men had already begun to runAfrican slaves into the state from Havana and Africa, a moreavailable source was needed. Nicaragua was seen as a potential"way station" for cheap labor importation into Texas until sucha time as the slave trade might be legalized. The Nicaraguanfilibuster, General William Walker, attracted the attention and